How To Hate Maternity Pants

I tried the rubberband trick. I tried just wearing the pants too tight for my own good. I tried wearing my fat pants. But I've now gotten to the point where I must wear maternity pants in order to be any kind of comfortable. And boy do I hate them!

They have this band that comes up to my boobs and the actual pant part is so low-cut that I am forced to wear long shirts. The longer shirts in turn, cut off my legs and make me look short and frumpy. The part that covers my stomach irritates the crap out of my skin, so all I do is itch it all day long. Seriously, I just stand and itch my growing belly. I can't win with these pants! Am I the only one with these problems? Answer: Most likely cause I'm weird!

Fortunately, I have found one pair of work maternity pants that are lower rise (thank you Motherhood Maternity) and one pair that has a flexible waist (Meijer) thanks to my Mom. Both of these are very attractive and hit at my hips or just below. Love them! Now if only I could find some jeans that are like that as well. Hmmmm.

Here are some of my belly pics:

4 weeks--when we found out!! i was skinny!

12 weeks

16 weeks (and yes that is a turtleneck)

20 weeks (i need to slow it down a bit)

Happy Pants Hunting and Belly Growing!

--Am

How To Netflix

It's been way too long since I've blogged and I must say that Netflix is part to blame for that. About a month ago, Al and I decided it was time we try Netflix. We both got very excited about it (me so I could watch Criminal Minds from the beginning and he so he could watch loads of documentaries). We were so excited that we both signed up at the exact same time for the free one month trial! Once we reconnected, Al canceled his subscription and I kept mine. Since CM is only available on discs, we opted for the streaming and one disc out at a time package for $9.99 a month.  When streaming, we can watch shows simultaneously on different devices (XBOX 360, computer, iPad, or iPhone). 

And I must say that this is the best decision that we could have possibly made...EVER! I'm surprised that with as much tv and movies I watch, that I didn't have it when it first came out. I'm just very slow to adopt changes in technology. And no, I don't still have a Blockbuster account. And yes, I still have a tube tv and just recently threw out my dvd/vcr combo player (but only because it would overheat). I'm still deciding if Blue-Ray is the way to go, and I don't own a smart phone. Al, on the other hand, is extremely technology-savvy and loves new technology. He has to have the newest gadget, or he's unsatisfied. We are very different when it comes to this, as we are with the types of tv or movies we choose to watch. I was so excited for the silly girly movies, horror flicks, and modern day detective shows, while he was super excited about documentaries and action films. About the only thing we can decide on is CM, so we watch an episode or two each night before bed (that is if a disc is not in transit).

Netflix and I are now best friends. It knows all my favorite shows and is usually dead-on for what I fancy. The only thing it's given me 5 out of 5 stars was Veronica Mars, and I must say that this is/has been/will be my favorite tv show ever. I have a minor obsession with it! And based on that, I figure it can't ever be wrong. So, now I have 74 discs to watch and 72 films and tv shows to stream live (more tv than movies). This doesn't include what Alex would like to watch (my queues have taken over). I think we will be friends for a very, very long time!

For those of you wondering if this is the right option for, I say go for it. At least try it free for a month. It's fun to rate shows and find films you've never heard of, but end up loving. I could get lost on the Netflix website just searching for unheard (by me) films. In fact, I think I might just head on over there...

Happy Netflixing!
--Am

How To Get a New-to-You Treadmill

On Sunday, I woke up and was excited to get in my workout. It can sometimes be a hard thing to talk myself into, but that day it was easy. Why? Because I am on the final episode for season 2 of Angel. I was excited to see how the crew got back to the real world. So, I was getting into my stride about five minutes in and the treadmill speeds up. It's going so fast, I have to jump off or else meet my fate thrown into the closet. Once off, my first thought is that maybe I somehow slid the bar up to make it go faster. I check the bar, and it's at the normal spot. Then I think I better hurry up and turn it off before it wakes up Alex. He's not always the happiest when woken up early! Quickly, I pull out the red key and the machine starts to slow down, but not stop. It sputters for a little bit before stopping completely. I put the key back in and try to change the pace, but it sputters on and off. I think back to the day before when I remember a burning smell while running. I didn't think anything of it because I'm an idiot. It would have had to have been on fire for me to notice something was wrong. What's that they say about hindsight? That will come into play later on. Here are some photos of the 12 year old Proform Treadmill I took from my parent's house when I bought our house:

my old Proform (this was not the original location)

the very high-tech control panel

Since I've started this exercise routine, I immediately got freaked out that I would stop exercising and gain all my weight back. As soon as Alex got up, I had him helping me find treadmills on Craigslist. And by 4pm, we found a NordicTrack for $250 in Anderson. It seemed like a pretty good deal. Speed and incline are controlled electronically (the Proform was all manual) and it has built in fans. Plus, it's wide enough that Al says he might try it out. When we get to Anderson, we barely get it in the car. Al's seat was pushed up so far he looked like he was driving a clown car. It was quite funny! 

We're home with a little bit of daylight to spare. I pick up pizza for dinner, scarf it down, and get ready to unload the new machine. Our neighbor was going to help, but we couldn't get ahold of him, so I decided to help. Al is at the back pulling the machine out and I'm in the back of the car lifting it up over the wheel wells. LIfting, lifting, lifting, pushing, pushing, pushing, and it finally got over the wells. And as soon as it was over, it came down hard. I should have taken my rings offs (hindsight) because my huge rock got stuck and pinned my left ring finger under the machine. I pulled it out, took the ring, and started shaking my hand to ease the pain. That's when I looked at my ring and noticed it was completely bent. And a little later, the stone fell out.

 my poor ring

Needless to say, we stopped with the process and waited for our neighbor to come over. Pete and Al were able to get the new treadmill out of the car and upstairs, while I iced my finger and chatted with Abby and Izzy. Abby and Pete took the old treadmill off our hands (it went back to normal after it had cooled down). I warned them to shut it off if there were any kind funky smells coming from it! Here's the new treadmill:

as if you were running on it

the backside?

In the end, we got a pretty good deal for a barely used treadmill (although I do hate giving up my old one). My ring is covered under full warranty, and will be ready for pick-up later this week. My finger is bruised and a little sore, but nothing too bad. Now tomorrow, I will finally get to watch the last episode of Angel Season 2. 

Always look for the positive!

--Am 

How To Buy a Coffee Maker

On Monday morning, our coffee maker went out. It sounded like it was brewing, but there wasn't any coffee in the pot and all the water was still in the water basin. Alex's goal when he arrived home was to clean it out and see if he could unclog the pump (because I was sure that was the source of the problem). Well, the pump was just plain broken. I guess that's what happens when you purchase a Mr. Coffee coffee maker from Wal-Mart for $29.99. When I bought  this maker in July 2008, I remember thinking it was a great price for a quality coffeemaker. (Side note: Coffee maker can be written as two separate words or as one word; I will use both). Who knows, maybe it was a quality coffeemaker since we used it almost everyday.

Anyway, goodbye old coffeemaker! Off to Bed, Bath & Beyond to get another one. Oh, but which one to get? We must have stared at the different kinds for 45 minutes. Did we want a Keurig (single-brew) or a traditional coffee maker? I played Devil's Advocate a little bit with Alex. He has wanted a Keurig for some time now, and it always seemed a little uneconomical to me. However, during this trip he was hot on the traditional coffeemaker. While we were talking over the pros and cons, one of the sales associates stopped by and gave us a little tutorial on the different brands of the single serve makers.  There's the Keurig, Tassimo, Breville, etc. And most of these come in a "mini" size.  We were interested, but not enough to buy one. 

We settled on the Mr. Coffee Thermal Coffeemaker. It was $90 and had a gold filter (yeah, no more paper filters). We had a 20% off coupon and a $50 giftcard, so we only paid around $25. We thought that was a pretty good deal! At home, Al cleaned it and got it ready to brew the next day. One thing that sucked right off the bat was that there was no warmer (with it being a thermal), so Al would have to pour the coffee back in, set the delay and re-brew it for me (he gets up about 3 hours before me). Oh well, if that's the only thing that's wrong, it's not so bad. As we got in bed, Al began looking at various reviews online and could not really find a good one. Now we have it in our head and are looking for proof for it to be a terrible coffeemaker. Well, it was. The coffee was watery, which we assume is from it brewing quickly (something to do with the gold filter maybe?), and it was only lukewarm. We decide to give it another try and use a paper filter the next day. Nope, still watery! And still not very warm for me...way to go thermal! 

On Wednesday night, we pop in BBB after dinner with my fam. This trip was a little different because we had done our research prior to arriving.  I know, research for a coffeemaker seems a little ridiculous, but Al put it best when he said it was like buying a car. Too many different gadgets and whatnot. We decided that the Cuisinart DC1200 would be the one. We look it over and ponder about the KitchenAid model, but decide to go with the Cuisinart ($80). As we're walking toward the check out, we see a sign that says $50 mail-in rebate on Tassimos. We ask someone to explain the differences between the various models, but decide it might be a little bit too much and maybe we should ask for one next Christmas. 

Bright idea! We can get a cheap-o coffee maker and get this one for fun. We'll spend a little bit more, but not too much (giftcard and rebate). Wow, we're an easy sell. We run back, get a cheap-o coffee maker, grab a Tassimo, select some T-disc flavors, and nab a quick gift for my sister. The grand total (including rebate and giftcard) came to about $100! We got one coffeemaker, one Tassimo, three bags of T-discs, and a birthday gift for one hundred bucks...FANTASTIC! To give you an idea, the Tassimo was $169 to start with. 

We are so stoked from our fab deal when we get home. Oh but we're about to be taken down a notch. Al starts to take out the coffeemaker and notices that it's taped up with scotch tape.  That's not right.  Then, water poured out of it when he took it out of the box, and there were grounds caked on the filter basket. Of course, we picked up a return that wasn't properly checked! We call BBB, and they have one waiting for me when I get there. This one is in it's original packaging and doesn't have scotch tape on the bottom of the box. It's good to go! Take it home, set it up, clean it, and delay brew it. 

The next morning, the coffee tasted great and reached our expectations. We also tried out the Tassimo, which was good, but not the best thing in the world. For Al, it tended to make the drink too strong, and for me it was too milky.  Both of those things can be adjusted, so we're going to keep it! It will be good for single brews, lattes, and entertaining our fancy friends. :)

All in all, I say go for the cheap-o coffeemaker. Happy brewing!

--Am

Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Coffee Maker ($40)

Tassimo - front view

Tassimo - side view

 

 T-discs - these are only 35 calories!

chai tea latte T-discs